


we dont gotta die so soon, so i just behave for you

by coatylbutter



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Wrote this in less than an hour, and the discord folk liked it, even though its short compared to what I normally like to write, on to actual tags..., so im posting it here, thats it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24638671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coatylbutter/pseuds/coatylbutter
Summary: Sometime you're locked into something. Sometimes it's hard to get out.
Relationships: no - Relationship
Comments: 11
Kudos: 37
Collections: victors' tower (stories from floor 6)





	we dont gotta die so soon, so i just behave for you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WreakingHavok](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WreakingHavok/gifts).



> We were chatting in the discord and my brain got the ideas goin. This is a bit shorter than what I would like to post- I try to go at least 1k works per work, but I think it's a good read as is, and adding anything else makes it too wordy. 
> 
> Title is a Joji lyric. Because I just had to. (the song is demons)

George didn’t really know why he started with his persona’s. Maybe because he thought he wouldn’t make it through the games, and if he was gonna go out, might as well do it in the most impactful way possible (and the most fun too). But he won the game, hip-hip-hooray, Victor #14, and he had to keep these personas up. 

On the plus side, the Capitol loved his acts. They thought he was funny. Amusing. A breath of fresh air from the skittish, nervous tributes, and victors. Instead of timid and jittery, he was loud, brash, and even offensive at times. Never against the capitol though. Not after the time he- never mind.

And at first, he was having fun. His first persona came when he made his Arena Name. Filthy Frank, or just Frank, was what he came up with on the fly when he was brought into the Capitol as a fresh tribute. It was also possibly the closest to him. Or it was at first. Perhaps it was closest to the 17-year-old him, the one that was just reaped into the games and was scrabbling to make an impact (even if the impact was given through shock factor, better than being forgotten. They thought it was funny back then.) But times change, and people change and it was almost like every time he made a new stance, a new opinion, he made a new persona. It had gone from something fun he did when he thought it would all be over, to everything he was known for.

He had gotten used to pulling out personas on a whim. Playing a recorder with his nose as Salamander Man. Preaching the wonders of veganism as Veggie Cunt. Acting like a martyr as God Frank. Every Gala, every Ceremony, every Reaping, the Capitol folks considered him their personal jester. Even on his own floor, his housemates would laugh when he pulled out Red Ranger. At least they weren’t as insistent as the Capitol people, but they showed that all he was known for was his personas.

But after a while, things get boring. And repeating the same gags for years on end, even ones with as much variety as him, get old fast, especially if they’re based on immature, hedonistic (or perhaps nihilistic) versions of yourself. Others had it easier, they had chosen personas easier to melt into. He hadn’t. He wanted out.

It doesn’t mean he was allowed to change. When you’ve made a name for yourself, you’ve gotta stick to it. Even when you’re fading into obscurity as the next five, ten, twenty victors are ushered in, people will notice. They’ll wonder what happened to their favorite victor from when they were young. They’ll see he has changed. They’ll lose interest.  
Very few had pulled it off. Thoughts of Victor number 3 came to mind- Jenna Marbles her name was. She had gone from brash, childish, to a well-rounded lady. She only pulled it off by changing naturally. Over months and years. 

He wanted to be different now. Not to slowly pull away from his personas over the next decade. He wanted to be him without dancing through the hoops.

Fil- George made his personas to stay remembered. Maybe he doesn’t want to stay remembered for those anymore. 

Because now, every time he acted out as Weeabo Jones or plays Fake Frank to the few old Capitol citizens that still found him amusing, instead of excitement or happiness or anything like that, he felt empty. Tired. He didn’t want to play this character he made up when he was 17 anymore.

So he tried something different.

He had dabbled in music before. He knew the basics of it. He knew how to mix audio. He had taken a few vocal lessons. Making an account on Spotify was easy. He may not have had as big of an influence he had back in the day, but people still had their eyes on him. 

So he took what he had and ran with it. Made the most of it. Got a new name, he was now known as Joji instead of Filthy Frank. And the people loved it.

It was a breath of fresh air. Dropping all of his old personas. They weren’t him. They hadn’t been him in years. People looking at something he was passionate about without making him out to be a comedian for them. He wasn’t completely free from being the Capitols Lap Dog, but he felt free enough. It was good enough for him.

The Peacemakers and the President were upset. Hell, they were livid. An act of defiance, they saw this as. Going against the Capitol's image of him, making a mockery of their work on their tributes. And maybe, just maybe, it was. Just a little bit.

But they couldn’t stop him. The games were for the Capitol’s entertainment. Keeping the victors online was for them. So if he was pulling in views, there should be no problem.  
He didn’t miss the difference in his treatment after he started music.

But his music gave him freedom, and if it happened to be a big “Fuck You” to the higher-ups at the same time?

So be it.


End file.
